Only We Knew
by iheartnewmoonxoxo
Summary: 16-year-old Nicole and her friends are on a plane bound for La Push. Something unusually wrong happens, and America's favorite saga is changed forever. Please read & review!
1. Chapter 1

NICOLE'S POV

"We will be landing in approximately twenty minutes," a flight attendant with a nasal voice squeaked into the intercom.

I wanted to jump up and down in my seat. I was finally there – well…almost, anyway. I side-glanced at my two best friends I had met four years ago when I had first moved to Los Angeles, Olivia and Ali.

I finally was able to visit my old hometown of La Push, Washington. I had left it when I was 13 and had missed it terribly until I met my new BFFs, who had healed my heart. Now I had a chance to have a reunion with my cousin Jennifer and bring my Californian friends along.

Although, I was sure that the biggest reason my friends wanted to come with her to La Push was because of the Twilight series, which each of them loved and had unhealthy obsessions with. They both wanted to see the small town where their favorite Twilight hottie lived. Of course, I had never known Jacob Black. He was a fictional character for crying out loud!

"Um, what time is it?" Olivia asked in a quavering voice.

Ali checked the clock on her iPod. "1:45 PM."

"Then why is it dark outside?"

We all scrambled to get a view of the window. Sure enough, the sky was a pitch black. The clouds had turned a depressing gray color, and they were angrily blowing around.

Ali, on the outside seat, tapped on a flight attendant's shoulder. "There's a storm going on outside! You have to stop the plane!"

The flight attendant squinted carefully through the window. "There's no storm," she laughed. "It's perfectly sunny today. I think you should get some sleep, it's been a long flight."

Ali's jaw dropped. She muttered something about writing a business letter to the United Airlines about rude employees.

A blinding light was shining through the window. The clouds were blowing around even more. "Stop the plane! Stop the plane!" Olivia shrieked as the whole airplane began swirling around in random directions.

Suddenly, the airplane jolted back to the normal position. Every other passenger around our row was staring at Olivia as if she had just undressed herself in public.

"What, didn't they feel that?" Ali muttered.

I shook my head. "I don't think they did." I took a deep breath and tried to make sense of what had just happened. The sound of the plane landing on the runway startled me.

Ali, Olivia, and I grabbed our bags and walked through the airport. I could tell that it was indeed sunny outside – the sun was gleaming warmly through the giant wall-sized windows. I hoped with all my heart that what had happened was all just a dream, but my friends' faces looked just as spooked and bewildered as I felt.

I hugged my cousin Jennifer, who was waiting up front. _Everything seems to be normal,_ I thought. Maybe a rainstorm just ended when we were about to land.

It was a quick drive to La Push. I rolled down my window. There was the familiar smell of salty sea air that I had missed. When we got into town, I saw the familiar quaint houses lined up together. Jennifer parked the car in front of one of them.

"Um, this isn't your house," I said.

"Yes it is, Nicole," she insisted. "Didn't I tell you I got married? His name is Sam. Come in, I'll introduce you."

My head was spinning as she grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the car. Did she mean Sam…as in Sam _Uley_? I was certain I was going nuts if I was actually going to believe we were in the world of Twilight. I needed to read another series for a while.

Suddenly, Ali, Olivia, and I stood frozen in the doorway. There, sitting on the living room couch, was Jacob Black.

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	2. Chapter 2

Ali gasped. "Is that – "

"Jacob Black?" Olivia finished.

I shook my head no. It couldn't be. Jacob Black wasn't real. Taylor Lautner was, but what would he be doing in La Push? And in _my_ cousin's house?

"Taylor Lautner!" I shrieked. He didn't look up.

Jennifer took my hand and yanked me over to who must be Sam. He looked just like the Sam in New Moon. "I'd like you to meet my cousin, Nicole, and her friends, Ali and Olivia," she told him.

He smiled and we shook hands. "I'm Sam Uley."

My heart dropped.

"Now no offense, I need to speak with Jacob in private. Emily, take the girls somewhere else for a few minutes."

_WHAT?! Did he just call her Emily? No, her name was Jennifer! My cousin! Maybe that was a nickname he came up with…? Maybe that boy's name was Jacob and he looked a little like Taylor Lautner…? Maybe Uley was a common last name…?_ I thought, trying to calm myself down.

"I'll take my friends down to the beach," I assured Jennifer – no, Emily. Even if I hadn't been here in three years, I still knew the way around here.

Ali and Olivia followed me as I raced down to a part of the beach where I was sure no one else was. It was far down the reservation where people rarely went, so we could yell all we wanted, because that was surely what I felt like doing at the moment.

"OH! MY! GOD!" we screamed.

"That's Jacob Black, and your cousin is Emily, and she's married to Sam, _for sure_," Ali said.

"No, it isn't! My cousin's name is _Jennifer_!"

"Then what? Do think this is all a coincidence? That seems really unlikely to me. Plus, he even called her Emily."

I sighed. I knew that Ali was being completely logical. How had I not seen the resemblance between my cousin and the actress who had played Emily in New Moon?

"Does the plane have something to do with it?" Olivia wondered.

"Maybe…" My voice trailed off. I had tried to believe that that had been all a dream. "Somebody pinch me," I ordered.

Ali grasped my skin with her long manicured nails.

"Ow!" I cried.

She shrugged. "You wanted me to, Nicole. Besides, this isn't a dream."

Olivia spoke up. "We must've gone through a vortex of some sort on the plane. I don't know why, though, it's all that I can come up with…" Of course that was what she would think of. Olivia was the smartest person I knew.

"Impossible," I mumbled.

Ali ignored me. "What part of the Twilight series are we in?"

"Let's go find out," Olivia decided.

"No! Stop! _I'm_ the one who invited you here in the first place!" But Olivia and Ali were already sprinting up the beach. I had no choice but to follow them.

"Where's her house again?" I heard Ali say. They both skidded to a stop, which let me catch up to them.

"Wait up!" I panted. They had gone really far in the wrong direction. We were nowhere near Emily's house.

"Here, follow me, Emily's house is this way." I led them the opposite way that they were facing. Ali and Olivia were fantasizing about which of the four books we were in.

A car came speeding from around the corner straight at us.

"Ahhhhh! Look out!" I screamed. I jumped out of the way, but Ali and Olivia's reflexes were obviously slower than mine. Their parents would kill me if Olivia and Ali got hit by a car. But then again, did their parents even exist in this world?

Luckily the car screeched to a stop. It was about a millimeter away from gently bumping into Ali. A huge, muscular boy hopped out, which I instantly recognized as Embry.

His eyes flickered to Ali. "Are you Emily's cousin?" he asked her. Was he crazy? Ali had straight dark blonde hair, while Emily had dark waves, like me. She couldn't possibly be related to Emily.

But then I saw why. He was gazing at Ali, like a blind man looking at the sun for the first time.


	3. Chapter 3

"No, I'm Emily's cousin," I cut in. Embry seemed to not hear me. He was still staring lovingly at Ali.

"Well, we'd better go," Ali claimed. "Emily and Sam are expecting us."

"How about I give you a ride?" Embry suggested.

"No, it's okay. See you later." Ali pivoted around and began walking quickly along the sidewalk. Olivia and I politely waved to Embry, but his eyes were still following Ali. I sighed and ran up to her.

"What are you _doing_? Embry totally just imprinted on you! You should spend some quality time with him now," I told her.

Ali shook her head. "He didn't imprint on me!"

"Yes, he did! Did you _see_ the look on his face?" Olivia said.

"No he didn't!" Ali spat. Olivia and I stop talking the rest of the way back to my cousin's house.

"There you are!" Emily exclaimed. "Time for lunch! Here, I have soda and water in here." She dragged a cooler up to us.

We all quickly swallowed down the sandwiches and drinks. "Thanks for the food!" I told Emily when we were finished.

Olivia, Ali, and I walked straight to the guest room. There were three small beds squished into the small room, probably put there just for us. No way Emily and Sam would have three beds in this little space just because they felt like it.

I was too nervous to unpack. "How are we gonna get back home? We can't stay in this world forever," I whispered. I made sure to keep quiet because if anyone heard us, they'd probably assume we were aliens or something.

Olivia was transferring her clothes to one of the drawers. "I honestly don't know," she confessed. "Maybe when we go back on the plane…" But even she seemed unsure

"I'm going for a walk," Ali announced.

"What? We just got here. We should stick together!" I called after her, but she just kept on walking.

ALI'S POV

I felt better once I began walking out of the house. It looked just like it had in New Moon. I passed Emily, who was loading the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. She looked exactly like the actress in New Moon, except she didn't have the scars. Embry had also looked exactly like the actor in New Moon, too. I kind of felt bad for ignoring Nicole and Olivia and practically rejecting Embry.

Once I found out we were in the world of the Twilight series (though we weren't sure which book yet), I had secretly hoped I would end up with Jacob. I was strongly team Jacob. I had felt sorry for him because Bella married Edward and he was stuck with a stupid half-vampire baby that he had imprinted on.

When you thought about it, Jacob's story was really sad. He had finally found the girl of his dreams and then she went and married someone else. Then he imprinted on her baby. What a nice reminder that your love had moved on. I had dreams about ending up with Jacob and healing his heart. I didn't have dreams about _Embry._

But I had to face the fact that Embry had imprinted on me. If only I had looked down far enough that my hair shielded my face. Then he would've imprinted on Olivia or Nicole, or no one at all.

Anyways, I was going to Jacob Black's house, careful to stay out of the path of Embry.

I rang the doorbell, and luckily, it was Jacob who answered.

"Hi, I'm Emily's cousin's friend, Ali," I said a little too quickly.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Jacob Black. Come on in." I wanted to scream at him, _imprint on me already!_ But I knew he couldn't do that, after Embry had. Plus, I wasn't even certain whether or not he was a werewolf yet.

"I'm out with my friend Bella in the garage, you can come along, too," Jacob told me as I followed him out the back door.

_Bella?_ I thought. _Then this must be New Moon, since she spent so much time with him when Edward left…wait, then that meant that Jacob wasn't a werewolf yet! But he would be soon… _

Once I got back, I would inform Olivia and Nicole what I had discovered.

"Jacob?" Bella called. She sounded worried. There was a hint of pain in her voice. Edward must've just recently left.

"Hey, sorry for the wait! There was someone at the door, her name is Ali."

"Oh. Hi, Ali," Bella mumbled. She managed a quick glance, than looked down again. She must still be heartbroken. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her, but then I went right back to loathing after what she'd done – or will do – to Jacob.

Whenever Bella was looking away, Jacob was looking longingly at her. I wondered if he was going to imprint on Olivia or Nicole. That would be totally unfair!

After about half an hour or so, Bella stood up. "This has been really fun," she declared. "But I have to get home now." I silently cheered to myself. Jacob and I would be alone!

Bella walked out of the garage and drove away. "What's wrong?" I asked innocently, even though I knew the answer. "She seems sad."

"Her boyfriend moved," Jacob explained.

I scooted a little closer to him, careful not to take it too far.

"What's this you're working on?" I pressed on.

"Oh, just some motorcycles. We're fixing them up and then Bella and I are gonna ride them."

"Cool." I was instantly worried. Was my response too vague? Would the conversation die down, because of me?

"So, where are you from, again?" he asked.

"Los Angeles," I replied.

"Awesome, I've always wanted to go there. Have you ever seen a celebrity?" _Score!_

"No, I haven't," I admitted. "It's uncommon, but some people have."

"Oh," he mumbled. Ugh! The conversation was surely going to die down this time!

I tried to smile at him. "Maybe you could visit me there someday," I tried.

He faced me fully, and smirked. "Really," he said. He paused for a moment. "I like you." That comment took me by surprise. I smiled back at him.

"I like you, too." Suddenly, I saw his face leaning and coming straight towards me. Panic pulsed through my veins. What should I do now? Kiss him back? This was all going too quick for me. I closed my eyes when our lips touched. I draped my arms around his shoulders, and didn't let go.

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	4. Chapter 4

JACOB'S POV

What was I doing? I was making out with a girl I barely knew. But Ali seemed nice. She was pretty too. What was I so worried about? And since she was friends with Emily's cousin (whatever her name was…Nikki, maybe?), I bet she would be back again someday. That was good, I wouldn't be brokenhearted. I didn't want to end up like Bella.

We broke away after about 10 seconds. Ali caught her breath, and so did I. She managed a smile. "That was nice," she mused.

I grinned. "Will you be back tomorrow?"

"Of course," she promised.

We just stared at each other for a while. It was kind of an awkward silence, but it was still nice. Though she seemed to be trying to avoid silences.

"I better go." There was a reluctant edge in her voice. "They're probably wondering where I went off to."

I sighed. "Oh, right. Well, good night."

She stood up and walked out, shooting one last smile at me.

ALI'S POV

I fought the urge to skip around and sing _I kissed Jacob Black! I kissed Jacob Black!_ I had a jittery feeling in my body, as if I wanted to go and scream and jump around. That was what girls did in movies, anyway. I tried to keep calm as I walked through the night.

I remembered my way back to Emily's, if I just retraced my steps, which wasn't that hard. I rang the doorbell. It was Nicole.

"There you are! Where did you go?" she whispered as she stood aside and let me in.

"Ali! You're just in time for dinner!" Emily pulled out a chair for me. It was an empty seat next to Olivia. Nicole took the vacant seat on the other side of me.

"Where did you go?" she repeated. I pretended not to hear her as I scooped up a big helping of spaghetti. Nicole seemed annoyed with me, though I couldn't say I didn't blame her. I guess I _had_ been acting a little grumpy after Embry had imprinted on me, and then I had just walked out like that. But if I told her I made out with Jacob Black, she would be furious with me. No one ever rejected someone who imprinted on her, according to the books. But I didn't want to lie to Nicole, though. What should I say? I decided to ignore her when she talked about it – it was the best idea I had.

"Where's Sam?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Emily bit her lip. "He's out with some…friends." Oh. His werewolf pack. Of course Emily would try to hide it from us. But Embry would probably break the news to the pack that he had imprinted, and I would soon have to be told about werewolves. _Ugh, why me?_ I thought. _Why can't it be someone hotter?_

"Like who?" Olivia pried, probably trying to get Emily to tell us. Of course we all knew about werewolves and vampires. But the actual werewolves and vampires didn't know that. We needed to act innocent until we were told straight-out.

"Just some of his close friends on the reservation," Emily insisted. "Sometimes they just go for a boy's night out."

Nicole was pushing her spaghetti around with her fork. "Uh huh." She seemed to have given up on asking me what had happened.

I didn't think Emily heard Nicole's sarcastic comment when her cell phone vibrated.

"Hello? Oh, hi Sam….oh really? Well should she come over right now? Okay….I see….well she _is_ her friend….you're right. Okay, I'll drive all of them over. Bye." She snapped her phone shut.

"After you girls are finished with dinner I'm driving over to the bonfire. It's time you get to know some of Sam's pa – I mean friends."

We all quickly dug into our food, eager to go over. It was hard to keep pretending to be oblivious all the time, and I was excited to finally be in on it. We all jumped into Emily's sedan, then she drove straight towards the beach.

NICOLE'S POV

Ali was hiding something from Olivia and me, and I knew it. I decided not to even ask, though. What was the point? She obviously was trying to avoid the subject. But I vowed to myself I would find out soon enough.

We were driven to a cliff that hung over the ocean. It was just like in Eclipse, when Jacob took Bella to the bonfire and she first heard the legend of how the werewolves had come to be. Was this Eclipse? I couldn't be sure. If Jacob and Bella were there, then it would be likely that it was Eclipse. I would just have to wait and see.

This wasn't La Push as I remembered it. In my world, there were no werewolves or imprinting or anything. No shirtless, tanned, and muscular boys tromping around the forest in search of vampires. Sure, there were legends, but no one actually believed them, because they knew werewolves weren't real. Because of this, I didn't even get to see my actual cousin. Because of this, my cousin was Emily. I didn't love Emily like a cousin at all. I still couldn't think of her as a cousin.

In the distance, I spotted the warm glow of the bonfire; I knew we were there now.

Emily parked and led out us out to the fire. She took a seat next to Sam, wrapping her arms around him. I shyly sat down next to her. I felt all the eyes of the pack staring at me.

Jacob wasn't there. Neither was Quil, Leah, or Seth. That meant we were in either Twilight of New Moon. But Embry was there, and he was gazing at Ali, who was deliberately letting her eyes wander away from his face. Did Embry imprint before or after Jacob? Did his time of changing differ because we showed up? I really needed to reread the books to refresh my memory, though I knew that wasn't an option. I couldn't buy it in this world.

Sam took a deep breath. "Welcome, girls. We are joined here today because we have something to share with you about our tribe." After his little introduction, he started into the story about the spirit warriors. To be honest, I had skipped this part in the book after starting onto it. I decided to play along this time.

When he was done he said, "It still holds true today…" He explained about the wolves and how they were here to hunt down vampires. I pretended to act appalled. They bought it. _Maybe I should be an actress someday_, I though to myself.

"There's also something called imprinting," Sam informed us. "It's like love at first sight. I imprinted on your cousin Emily, Nicole – " he paused to grin at Emily, who happily smiled back, " – and Embry Call claims he imprinted on Ali.

"That's why we have told you the truth. Once one of the pack has imprinted on an outsider, we must tell them the truth. Then they can decide whether or not they will accept the one who has imprinted on them." Everyone's eyes bored into her. Sure, Ali loved to be the center of attention, but I bet this had to be awkward.

"Well?" Embry piped up after a long silence. He sounded a little impatient. "Do you accept me?"

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	5. Chapter 5

"_Well_?" Embry asked again. His hopeful smile was slipping.

Ali nervously looked from Olivia's face to mine, giving us a plea for help.

"This is really…shocking," was what Olivia came up with. "Why don't you give her some time to get used to the idea. You all understand, don't you?" There was a big chain of nods from all the boys. It looked a bunch of bobble-heads were set off all at once.

"Thanks," Ali said to the ground. I wasn't sure whether she was thanking Olivia for the nice save or for the pack for allowing her some time to think about it.

Emily yawned. "Well, I better take these girls back home. It's getting late and they just got here. They should catch up on their sleep!"

This time, Sam stood up with her. "You guys should go home too," he ordered the rest of the pack. He probably didn't trust them there alone or something, because he had a slightly stern look on his face.

It was an awkward silence back to Emily's. I didn't know what to say. Sam and Emily were just staring straight ahead. Ali and Olivia had places to look absentmindedly – out the window. But I was stuck in the middle. Sam and Emily could easily turn around and look me in the eye. I fixed my gaze on my black flip-flops.

My friends and I rushed into the tiny guestroom when we got to the house.

"What was that all about, why aren't you just accepting him already?" I blurted out to Ali when we were all safely inside the room where no one could hear us.

"I – nothing." Ali flopped onto her bed.

"There is _something._ Nicole and I know you're hiding something," Olivia claimed.

Ali took a pair of pajamas and a toothbrush. "I'm going to take a shower," she said flatly. She marched out of the room without a single glance back at us.

"She'll have to tell us sometime." I sighed. "Anyways, did you bring any of the Twilight books? I need to refresh my memory. I _have_ to find out which book we're in. It's killing me."

Olivia nodded. "I brought all four! I was so excited since we were going to La Push and all! I finished New Moon on the plane ride here! That's like, the shortest one! Well except for Twilight. But New Moon was _so_ easy – "

I cut her off. "Alright. Here, gimme Twilight." She handed me her hardbound book with the familiar picture of a pair of pale hands holding a red apple.

I skimmed through the pages, looking for something, _anything_ that might be useful. I should've realized that it mostly just said stuff about the vampires and all that crap. It didn't say practically anything at all about the wolves, so I realized Twilight was obviously not the one.

"How about New Moon?" I asked, tossing Twilight so it landed on Olivia's bed. Olivia handed me New Moon.

I began flipping through the pages. I was lost in the story. It _was_ my absolute favorite out of the whole entire saga.

Suddenly, I came to one part that was a total clue:

"_Then this week, out of nowhere, Embry's hanging out with Sam and the rest of them. He was out on the cliffs today." His voice was low and tense._

_He finally looked at me. "Bella, they bugged him even more than they bothered me. He didn't want anything to do with them. And now Embry's following Sam around like he's joined a cult."_

"We're in New Moon," I realized.

Olivia's blue eyes bulged. "How do you know?"

"Here. Look at this." I pointed out the passage I had just read. "Think about it. Embry's joined the pack now – we know that – but Jacob hasn't. He wasn't at the bonfire today, so he must not have turned into a werewolf yet. So it's only possible that we're in New Moon," I concluded.

I expected her to say "nice job" or give me a high-five, but then Ali opened the door. "What are you doing?" Ali asked curiously, eyeing the book I was holding.

"We just found out that we're in New Moon!" Olivia showed Ali the page.

Ali read the two paragraphs then flipped through more pages. Suddenly her eyes widened to the size of golf balls. Ali dropped the book and screamed. It hit the ground with a thud.

Sam came rushing in. "Is everyone alright?" he asked frantically, looking around the room for any signs of harm. I spotted Twilight and New Moon lying open on Olivia's bed. _Oh no, _I thought. _If Sam sees that, we're in huge trouble! _I raced over and threw them back in Olivia's bag. I exhaled the air I'd been holding in.

Sam eyed me suspiciously. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, I thought I saw a spider. Goodnight, Sam!" Ali swiveled his body around and shoved him out the door.

"_What_ is wrong with you?" I asked Ali, exasperated. "Why the hell did you scream?"

Ali seemed too frightened to speak. She was hyperventilating again, exactly like she had been at the bonfire. Ali shot a shaky finger at the book. "I swear…I saw…words…change…" she stammered, in shock.

I rolled my eyes. _Wow. Ali was either A) crazy or B) trying to attract attention. _I suspected B. I guess I was still kind of angry at Ali for not telling me the truth, but B was the kind of thing she would do. I would've suspected that even if I wasn't mad at her.

Ali saw the doubtful look on my face and became serious.  
"Look for yourself!" She dug New Moon back out of Olivia's bag and thumbed to a specific page. "See, look?"

I squinted my eyes. It looked just normal to me – a bunch of black words on white paper, not moving or changing or anything. Then a small paragraph popped up out of nowhere:

"_Embry imprinted on this girl named Ali," Jacob told me, a hint of sadness in his voice. "She's one of Emily's cousin's friends."_

I blinked my eyes once. Then twice. Then three times. The words were still there. This couldn't be happening.

"Oh god. Not you too, Nicole?" Olivia complained.

I hurled the book to Olivia as if I were playing hot potato. She caught it neatly and opened up the page, reading it over and over again.

"Do you believe that's just a coincidence?" Ali asked. "It's all true! My name is in it! Embry imprinted on me! That wasn't in the book the last time I read it! Ugh! Someone get me out of this damn world!"

"Yeah, I would know! I read the whole New Moon on the plane ride here!" Olivia finally agreed.

"Wait a minute…" Olivia was staring at the book.

I ran up and looked over her shoulder. "What?"

But she didn't have to answer for me. There were more words popping up on the page:

"_What's wrong?" I asked. I could sense his gloominess by his tone. Oh yeah – Ali had been the girl who had come in the garage the other day, disturbed our peace, and I had decided to leave until I could be alone with Jacob the next day._

"_It's just that…" Jacob seemed to be determining how to put his feelings into words. I had trouble with that sometimes, too. _

"_I…I really like Ali. We kissed before, before I knew about werewolves. But Embry imprinted on her, and he got mad at me…" He sighed and pulled up his sleeve, revealing three pinkish-white lines, jagged against his dark skin._

"_Embry did that to you?" I gulped._

_Jacob nodded. "He thought it was my fault that Ali liked me better than him. But it wasn't. I didn't even know at the time about werewolves!"_

_Had Jacob and Ali really taken it that far after I left that day?_

"You kissed Jacob?!" I yelled a little too loudly in Ali's direction. She shook her head over and over.

"Let me see the book." Her eyes scanned the new words that I had just read. Finally she looked up at Olivia and me. Her face look like a bully searching through their mind for an excuse so they wouldn't get in trouble with the teacher. "I don't know what you're talking about! That book is lying! I haven't even met Jacob ever since we've gotten here!" she claimed.

"So _that_ was what you were up to when you 'went for a walk'," Olivia said, obviously not believing Ali's explanation.

"No! You have to believe me! I was just in shock…I didn't kiss Jacob Black…I've never even met him…I think you're right, Nicole. This _is_ all a dream. It's impossible to go into a fictional story world."

I stared doubtfully at her. How ironic. Just a few hours ago she was trying to persuade me that this was all real.

Before I could object, though, I heard a horrible sound that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I stared around the room. What could've made that sound? There was a big wooden drawer, and on the opposite side, three small white beds. There was practically nothing else except for one tall lamp that we were all supposed to share, apparently. But there was nothing that would've made that noise.

"Who's there?" Olivia said cautiously. She was staring out the window that looked out on the beach, its ripples a shiny black in the moonlight. The huge willow tree's branches, which the house was shadowed in, had made several white scratch marks across the grass.

"What was that?" I breathed.

"Probably just the wind," Ali suggested nervously.

But I pushed open the weathered-up window and stuck my head out. A tall figure was jogging away, out the backyard, down the sidewalk, and around the corner, out of sight.

"It wasn't the wind," I whispered. "It was a person. And I think they just heard every word we said."

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	6. Chapter 6

ALI'S POV

"Oh my god." I think I had an idea of who that person was. But I couldn't – and I wouldn't – tell my friends. I had already lied enough, and they were probably even more angry with me. I would've been grateful for that diversion, but now I realized it only made things worse. There was no turning back.

I threw the door open and rushed downstairs. I didn't bother to tell Olivia and Nicole where I was going. While making sure not to trip down the stairs, I thought angrily to myself, _Bella's such a hypocrite! What did she mean 'I had disturbed her peace'? She disturbed _mine_! Jacob and I were totally having a moment! What a vampire-loving brat. _I was glad Edward wasn't around to read my mind.

Luckily, Emily and Sam were probably snug in their bedroom, doing god-knows-what. I didn't care. I was just glad there was no one on the first floor. Sure enough, all the lights were switched off. When I was little, I used to be afraid of the dark, but I was thankful the lights weren't on so no one would see me.

Sprinting down the pavement I forgot that Olivia and Nicole could probably see me from the guestroom window. I hoped that they wouldn't come running after me – they hadn't done that last time I'd randomly run out of the house. Plus, it was nighttime.

Then it hit me. I didn't really know my way around this town in the daytime, how could I possibly know at night? There was a little voice in the back of mind that said, _don't do it, you'll get lost,_ but I tried to ignore it. I was done following the rules.

As I darted around the corner, I spotted the big hulking figure that had been listening to us. When I got up closer, I realized my guess was correct.

"What's going on?" I called, just loud enough for my voice to carry to his ears; he was standing about seven yards away.

Jacob turned around to face me, which let me catch up to him a little bit. "_You _tell _me._"

"What were you doing in the tree?" I demanded, ignoring what he had just said. "I though we agreed I'd see you tomorrow."

"I couldn't wait," he admitted. "I wanted to see you. But what the hell is going on here? 'I didn't kiss Jacob Black'? 'Fiction story world'? 'This is all a dream'?" He mimicked me very well.

I didn't know what to say. How could I explain that his world was a fictional storybook, let alone werewolves and vampires? He didn't even know he was going to be a werewolf yet! I couldn't think of a good enough explanation that he would actually believe.

"Um…"

"I'm waiting."

"Well…"

"Spit it out!"

I was taken by his shrill tone.

"If you didn't wanna tell me, then why did you take the time to come down here?" he asked, his nostrils flaring.

I took a deep breath and exhaled it out, trying to rid my body of all my anxiety and stress. "I _do_ want to tell you! It's just that…I can't…" My voice faded away.

"Wow," Jacob mumbled. He seemed to have calmed down a little. "For a second I thought I actually liked you. I thought _us_ might actually be a future…but I guess not. I have plenty of other girls I could go out with" – he paused and sighed dreamily, and I knew he was thinking of Bella…as if! Just wait and see, Jacob Black – "If you're gonna keep stupid secrets from me, then I don't think this is going to work out."

"_What_?" I blurted, no longer trying to hold my temper in. "You just don't understand! I can't tell you! It's nothing personal, I swear! First off, you won't believe me. Then I would just get into trouble, and everyone is gonna hate me…"

"Won't believe you? _Won't believe you_?" Jacob was fuming now. "You think I won't believe you? You're so selfish, Ali. And you honestly think that if you tell _me_ a secret that it's going to make everyone hate you? How dark is this damn secret anyway?"

His whole muscular, tanned, and extremely hot (LOL) body was trembling – well, his face was now reminding me of a maraschino cherry, not tan at all anymore.

I was starting to feel dizzy. Everything seemed to be in slow motion now. Jacob was growing…taller, taller, taller. His back was arching so his body looked like the shape of a giant candy cane. Jacob leaped into the air and sprouted russet-brown fur. Random scraps of his clothes flung everywhere in the cold grass.

_Oh my god. Oh my god! OH MY GOD!_

My mind was screaming for me to run, but my legs stayed put on the ground, as if they each weighed a ton. This wolf looked nothing like the one in New Moon. It wasn't CGI, for one thing. This looked like a real, _huge_, wolf, and that actually made me afraid.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I knew Jacob probably wasn't listening right now. He wasn't human anymore. He was a crazy, out-of-control animal.

Then I realized something. What if I ended up like Emily, marred for life by the werewolf I loved? Though I wasn't sure Jacob loved _me_ anymore. If he didn't love me, I wasn't going to waste my time loving _him_. Even though he was amazingly hot.

Before I could even draw up the conclusion that now was a good time to run away, Jacob's paw swung dangerously close to my face as we was swiveling around. It missed, just barely grazing my arm. After that he stood up on his hind legs and howled, only to disappear into the forest. Phew. My face was still intact.

Holding up my arm, I realized that his claws still had caused damage. Three eight-inch lines were scratched diagonally onto the inner part of my forearm, blood leaking out of it, dying the part of the grass red. _Oooo, Christmas colors, _I thought stupidly. But honestly, my arm didn't hurt that much. It was just spewing blood like hell.

What was I supposed to do? I didn't have the courage to face my friends now. Besides, I truly didn't know the way back to them. I just began casually walking down the asphalt as if my arm wasn't violently bleeding.

I came to the edge of the neighborhood – beyond that was just a sea of trees. I kept on walking toward it.

My little fantasy dream had been to end up with Jacob Black ever since he took his shirt off in New Moon. I never thought it would actually come true, but now it almost did. And I had ruined that. If only I hadn't run after Jacob – I could've made up an excuse for what I had said and confront him the next day. But no, I had to be a stupid, lovesick teenage girl and run out to him like this was some soap opera.

I suddenly felt scared of the dark. I was completely alone, my only companions the black, towering trees. Where would I sleep? I surely didn't want to sleep outside – ew. I hadn't even camped out before. If I couldn't sleep outside in a tent, what made me think I could sleep without one?

Maybe, I hoped, Jacob had phased back to his human form and was sulking somewhere between those trees, and I would find him and comfort him, and he would take me back to his house and apologize for getting mad and he would treat the scratch I had on my arm, even though he was the one who caused it. I was willing to forgive Jacob for that.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the some trees rustle in the distance. My head shot from side to side, trying to spot anything or anyone that could've made that noise. Nothing.

_BOOM_!

The sound of a huge boulder slamming against the ground filled the air. Something that looked similar to flames whizzed around before me.

Then I caught a full glimpse of what had made that sound.

I screamed.

5


	7. Chapter 7

JACOB'S POV

I was sprinting towards the forest as fast as I could.

What had happened? My temper was getting the best of me, then – _poof_ – I turned into a freaking wolf! A _wolf_! Why the hell would I turn into a damn wolf?

Then I remembered – the legends. I'd never really thought much of them. I had known – or _thought_ – that they weren't real. I mean, seriously! How is it possible to turn into another animal when you get mad? All the Indians had their old legends and stories, but they never came true…or did they?

I stopped flat in my tracks to observe my wolf body. I was covered with a thick blanket of russet-brown fur, similar to the color of my skin. My spine was arched in an odd angle that I wasn't used to. Plus, I could actually balance and run and walk on four legs. I also had sharp claws. Something red and wet dripped from my nails like an annoying faucet leak.

It was Ali's blood…from when I scratched her. She'd been screaming at me to stop, but at that point I couldn't have listened to her. I felt like a mindless wild animal. My heart skipped a beat. I hoped that Ali was okay.

_Identify yourself._

I jumped as that thought entered my mind – that wasn't my thought. It sounded deep and huskier than mine, like it had authority. It wasn't anything I recognized, though. I must be going crazy. This was probably just a dream, then. But the voices and the awkward feeling of being a wolf made it very vivid and realistic.

_I repeat, identify yourself_, the voice ordered again.

_Uh…Jacob Black? _I thought. It seemed more like a question, though. But then again, I wasn't used to thinking like I was speaking in a conversation. _Now tell me who you are_, I demanded.

But whoever had been talking to me had ignored me. Suddenly, another string of voices popped up in my head, like I was standing in the middle of a huge sea of babbling people. I was beginning to feel sick.

_We have to explain to him._

_ We should all phase back, then._

_ No, we have work to do!_

_ But Jacob should know._

_ Yeah, he's probably really shocked right now._

_ I know I was when this happened to me. _

I couldn't concentrate; I couldn't think. The thoughts were swirling around me like a tornado. When I took some deep breaths, I picked out a familiar voice.

_Jacob?_

I knew that voice. Embry. We hadn't spoken in weeks, but it was nice to know someone in all this chaos.

_Embry! What the hell is going on?_ I asked.

Before Embry had a chance to explain, I inhaled some air through my big black wolf nose and began choking. The scent of the air around me had suddenly began smelling like sickly sweet bleach. It burned the inside of my nose.

_Aaagghhhh! What_ is _that?_ I thought.

_Vampires!_ Embry exclaimed.

Before I had a chance to object, that there _was_ no such thing as vampires, another voice cut in.

_Quick! Everybody follow the scent!_ It was the voice that had asked me to identify myself.

_But, Sam! What about Jacob…?_ Embry thought.

_Sam?!?!?!?! _How could that possibly be Sam? He was just some stuck-up guy with a huge gang that acted like a bunch of amateur police officers. _Like hall monitors on steroids_, I recalled telling Bella that long time ago, when everything made sense.

_Hey, watch it! _Sam scolded me. _You don't think that way about the Alpha of the pack. We're brothers now, whether you like it or not. Now, stay where you are. I'm going to have Embry come and accompany you – you two seem to be acquainted._

I wanted to say, "Well, duh! We were best friends until you came and stole him away!" But I didn't. Something about Sam's tone made me listen to him. It almost kind of scared me.

I sat there, alone. I could hear other wolfs' thoughts, but I didn't pay any attention to them. I was starting to get used to them more, and besides, I had some thinking to do of my own.

So this was where Sam's little cult ended up. Now I knew why they missed school and avoided their old friends, who didn't know about the wolves. That's what Embry'd had to do, and I no longer blamed him now that I was in on the secret.

A gray wolf with dark spots splattered on his back approached me, than nudged me with his nose.

_Hey, Jake._

_ Hey, Embry. Long time no see._

_ Yeah, about that…well now you know why I had to do what I did. I'm glad you're in on the secret, because I felt bad about avoiding you all this time. _His wolf lips curled into what looked like a friendly smile.

_Yeah, I totally understand you now, _I assured him.

_Wow, Jake. You're _really_ furry._

I studied my bushy fur, then Embry's. Embry's was really short and clean.

_What am I supposed to do? Go to a pet groomer?_ I joked. But I seriously had no idea what to do to fix it.

Embry threw his gray head back and cackled. _No, I mean cut your hair. Like when you're human. _

_ Aha! So that's why you all have short hair, _I realized.

_Yup._

Our little conversation was broken when I heard a fierce, bloodcurdling scream. I looked around us in all direction, but I saw was just forest.

_What was that? _I thought.

_I don't know…sounds like a human. We're closest to it. The others went the wrong direction. C'mon! _Embry took off running, and I had no choice but to follow him.

Within a few seconds, we were at the place where we'd heard the scream. There was a freakishly pale teenager with fiery red hair, poised for battle. She bared her teeth at us. There standing before her was a girl with straight hair the color of caramel. Blood slid like a waterfall down her forearm. Her jaw was dropped. She must've been the one who had screamed. As Embry and I got closer, I recognized her. It was Ali.

"Jacob," she gasped.

Embry leaped over to the redhead and began snapping his pointy jaws at her. What was Embry doing, trying to bite a human girl? But there something wasn't right about that girl, as I studied her features. As she danced around the trees, she became just a blur. No one – not even a really good Olympic runner – could possibly be that fast. She also had that burning stench that irritated my nose. That was definitely what I had smelled earlier. To match her red hair, her eyes gleamed a stunning bright red, nothing I'd ever seen on another girl. Her skin was even whiter than snow. I'd never seen a human who was the pale. Except…

The Cullens.

What had I been missing out on?

The redhead pivoted around and ran through the forest. Embry sprinted after her.

_Huh-lo? What am I supposed to do, Embry?_

_ Just stand there. Protect Ali, _he panted.

I slumped into an unfamiliar sitting position. My legs bent in a way I'd only seen on dogs. Oh wait – I _was_ a dog. Or a wolf. Whatever.

Ali rushed over to me and intertwined her fingers in my fur. "Oh, Jacob…" I wanted to pull away, bad. Her arm wasn't gushing blood anymore, but it was still caked with it. She was getting her blood all over my fur. But I just sat there, determined not to hurt her feelings. "Listen…" She had to lift her head all the way up so she could stare into my eyes. "Whatever you do, don't tell Embry about our little relationship."

My eyebrows – if I _had_ any in this form – knit together in confusion, as if to say, _why not?_

"Um…well…it's complicated. Embry's in love with me, but I love _you._" She grinned at me. "But I don't wanna hurt Embry's feelings. I don't know how to break it to him just yet. Please, _please_, promise me you won't think about it."

I nodded in agreement. But now that she'd planted those thoughts of us making out in my mind again, how could I not think about it? Hopefully Embry wasn't listening. Besides, I felt so guilty about scratching her that I was willing to do anything.

But, wait a second…how did she know us wolves could read each others' minds?

I stared at her, hard. Was she hiding something? It seemed like everyone was keeping secrets these days.

Before I had a chance to think about it anymore, Embry returned, along with the rest of the pack.

_The vampire girl ran across the border. We have others patrolled there, just in case she's planning on coming back, _Sam informed me.

_Wait…vampires? _I cut in. Vampires weren't real. Whenever I thought of vampires, I always thought of Count Dracula with fangs and a big dark cape.

_Yes, that girl was indeed a vampire. And have you heard of the Cullens?_

_ Yeah, _I thought nervously.

_They're vampires too. _

My heart sank. _Does Bella know about this?_ What if the Cullens were planning on killing her soon? But they left…

_Yes, she's completely aware, _Sam thought.

_And she didn't tell me._

Sam ignored that one. He seemed not to be very interested in my silly little everyday dramas. Ugh. Life with him was going to be a drag.

_Keep those thoughts to yourself_, he scolded me angrily.

I stopped thinking immediately. I decided it wouldn't do me any good for Sam to be holding a grudge against me.

_Embry, phase back and bring Ali back to the village_, Sam ordered. I saw Embry disappear behind some bushes. He reappeared with some shorts on. He grinned at Ali, and she sighed. He didn't seem to notice, though. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. Ali managed a smile, though it seemed more like a grimace. It wasn't like the smiles she gave me.

Even so, I grew jealous. How could he be _that_ in love with her when Ali showed she wasn't in love with him back?

_What the hell are you talking about, Jacob, _a random voice thought. I didn't recognize it, though.

Then I remembered Ali's plea for me not to think about our relationship. I struggled to keep my mouth shut on our way back to the village.

We all phased back and walked to Sam's house when we reached where the houses popped up again.

"Um…where are we gonna get clothes?" I asked to no one in particular. They all seemed to have shorts stashed in the bushes.

"Here," Paul said, whipping some shorts at me. "I have a spare."

Hmmm. He had some attitude.

We all walked the rest of the way to Sam's house.

Emily was in the living room waiting for us as we all piled in. She led Ali upstairs where she would treat her scratch.

I began to feel self-conscious with my long mane of hair. But at least no one could read my mind anymore.

"Apparently, Jacob and Ali have kissed," Paul announced out of the blue once we were all settled. Every pair of eyes turned to look at me, some glares, some looks of surprise. I was going to have to remember to give Paul a punch in the mouth sometime.

"_What_?" Embry practically shouted.

They all closed in on me. I was cornered.

Embry shoved his way through the pack. "You have some explaining to do." 

8


End file.
